According to a petition put together by Kevin Powell and the folks of BK Nation, two teachers from a high school in Queens have filed a discrimination claim against a principal who they said fired them for racially motivated reasons after she referred to them both as having “big lips” and “nappy hair” to other faculty members. I know what you’re thinking. Yes, it is crazy that people, especially those in positions of power, still think it’s okay to talk like this in 2013.

The two teachers, John Flanagan, who taught Spanish, and Heather Hightower, who was behind ESL-Science, say they were fired by Principal Minerva Zanca of Pan American International High School after she told them there were budget cuts and gave them poor performance ratings for their work. But they, along with theatre teacher Lisa-Erika James and Assistant Principal Anthony Riccardo, think it was racially motivated after Zanca was reportedly caught speaking of Flanagan and Hightower in a disgusting way. Riccardo, who is also filing a harassment claim says that during Post-Observation Conferences recently, Zanca told him that Hightower “looked like a gorilla in a sweater with nappy hair,” while also asking, “Did you see his big lips quivering?” when speaking about John Flanagan. Because of that, these teachers, including Lisa-Erika James, felt targeted and have decided to file a claim against her hoping to get their jobs back.

But that’s not enough for Kevin Powell, political activist, writer and president of BK Nation (you know him), who has started a Change.org petition to have Principal Zanca removed for her behavior. Here’s what he had to say:

“It is not only important to have high standards for our public school teachers. But we must also support the good ones, like these teachers, who are completely dedicated to their young people. I find it unacceptable that a principal can engage in this kind of conduct without any repercussions. We are not going to stop until due justice and process is served here. We are calling on the school district and the DOE to review this matter thoroughly, to deal with the facts fairly, and to make it clear that racial bias and mistreatment of teachers in any form is not tolerated in New York City.”

James, who was also fired, is also part of the claim against this principal made by Hightower and Flanagan, and she says that at a school that is made up of predominately Afro-Latino students, a woman like that shouldn’t be making all the decisions because her way of thinking is clearly skewed. She says, “It is deeply disappointing that Ms. Zanca has made such hurtful racial epithets and is allowed to run a school where many of the children are of Afro-Latino descent.”

According to the petition, after the firing of these teachers, there are no more African-American teachers at Pan American International. Sad.

If all this is true, Ms. Zanca is definitely the wrong person to be over a school like this. If you’re interested in signing the petition, or want more info on the story, be sure to check it out on Change.org.

Comment Disclaimer: Comments that contain profane or derogatory language, video links or exceed 200 words will require approval by a moderator before appearing in the comment section. XOXO-MN

getthefacts

Their are always two sides to a story and in this case three. First of all Ms. Zanca is PUERTO RICAN MULATTO. Why in the world would she be racist against herself? The two teachers in question were denied tenured by Mr. Mendez. Ms. Zanca supported their tenure. The theater teacher ALWAYS received accolades by Ms. Zanca. Her program was reduce in budget due to financial constraints. The AP in question is being investigated by the DOE’s OSI for misconduct of funds. This was brought up by the NETWORK that realized some irregularities.
Do you know that the previous principal of this school was bullied by her staff and resigned? Ms. Zanca has brought in numerous PD opportunities for the school to help scaffold teachers. She was always looking for how to help teachers improve their practice.
Yes she work for Jose Cruz but her leadership style is different. She is a product of the LEAP program which has successful candidates.

Kimiko Austin

What does her being Puerto Rican got to do with her not being a bigot. I want to know why she is referring to people as big lipped and chimps? For that alone she needs to be fired.

Wow. Look at the traits of a Gorilla or chimp. They have straight like white people. Thin to no lips like white people. Flat behinds like white people. Big ears like white people. And under their hair they have pink skin like white people. Funny how they say that we are the chimps and monkey’s, isn’t it?

Drew

Nice!!!

Faith

I get so tired of white making ridiculous comments about blacks and getting away with it. Let me guess, “I didn’t mean to say and I was not thinking at the time I said it, blah , blah, blah”. Claiming that they are sorry and they are not at all. These people are fully aware of what they are saying at that time. i don’t buy any of it at all. When you plant a bad seed, you will reap a bad harvest in due season. If the shoe was on the other foot, they would not want anyone to say things about them.

MissRealuminatti

Oh and you know they will find a way to flip this and make it look like they are the victims of reverse racism. In example, the Zimmerman and Paula Deen situation.